Additional Details:

Artist–filmmaker Gary Lee-Nova and Bob Arnold collaborated on an installation at the University of British Columbia Fine Arts Gallery where Alvin Balkind was the director. The installation entitled Chainey was constructed out of tar paper, corrugated cardboard boxes and industrial lighting. The walls of the low ceilinged basement gallery were covered with black tarpaper. The artists starting at the back wall of the space constructed a large snaking chain made out of corrugated cardboard boxes and glue. The chain filled the entire space wall to wall, floor to ceiling. The space was lit by strings of dim incandescent lightbulbs. In order to fully experience the installation audience/participants had to climb and crawl their way into the space in and around the giant chain links.

Gary Lee-Nova in conversation with Michael de Courcy, March 2005:

“Well Bob and I had been playing with the boxes and Bob had a peculiar kind of interest in doing something so environmental that the structures the boxes were making, in this case, i think they were 1’ x 1’ x 6’ and we were glueing them into big square rings and then it was like a chain structure with the rings linked together. He wanted to envelope that structure in something that minimized everything else around it or eliminated it— a shield. So the idea was to find a place where we could use something neutral visually like tar-paper and build the shield or the cocoon out of that — just have very very lighting and not articulate anything—like these cornfields where they cut mazes through and stuff like that— not articulate anything formal — like not preconceive a pattern for the forms, but just to build it. We kind of backed our way out of the space. We started at one end and built our way out leaving spaces where people could, by stepping over climb into and then experience the peculiar—very peculiar geometry of these objects in this relatively dark but lighted environment. It was Bob. I just said, you know, I think we could talk to Alvin out at the UBC Fine Arts Gallery and see what he thinks—would he permit this kind of nonsense to go on inside his space— this travesty of sculpture and environment. He thought it was great. He was very very supportive so we just did it.”

“I recollect the job of constructing that thing out there was really really hard work and when it was all over and done we just wanted to get some beers and some pot and just chill out. It was really hard work.”

“Bob really liked it — he really liked doing it and he really liked the results. He was absolutely fascinated by this environment and the kind of sensibility you would have to construct in order to deal with it. He thought that was really important. I thought it was interesting but not to the degree that he did. He was really really into something he couldn’t verbalize. It was something deep and personally subjective and intuitive for him— about the body and space and how space imposes itself upon the body and the body reacts and pro-acts in relationship to those forces.”

“You and I can reflect on it now, at the time it was just flabbergasting to people, they didn’t know what to do with it— which was from my way of thinking a desired effect. If you can get people to have that kind of experience thats great  and just interrupt their world with something that they can’t really find a context for.”